This publication is planned to be released on a calendar year basis in future because most analysis is in terms of international comparisons and data for most other countries are available on a calendar year basis. The first issue of calendar year statistics is expected to be released for reference year 2002 in August 2003. That issue will contain data for the years 1997 to 2002 and will be consistent with data published in the March quarter 2003 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0).

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

Revisions

There have been revisions to the balance of payments data as a result of the incorporation of the latest available data.

Data availability

See paragraph 3 of the Explanatory Notes.

Presentational changes

This publication contains balance of payments components by country for the countries and country groups listed in Appendix 1. The alternative presentation of country by balance of payments components is available as Data Cubes on the ABS web site. A breakdown of data on income credits and debits into compensation of employees and investment income can be obtained from the publication International Investment Position: Supplementary Country Statistics, 2001-02 (cat. no. 5352.0). Data are presented for the six financial years from 1996-97 to 2001-02 while annual time series of data from 1989-90 are available as Data Cubes on the ABS web site.

OECDFrom 2000-01, Slovak Republic is included in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country group. It continues to be included in Europe n.e.s.

ABOUT THE PUBLICATION

Balance of Payments, Australia: Regional Series (cat. no. 5338.0) presents statistics on Australia’s balance of payments by selected countries, supplementing the quarterly publication Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0). This issue contains regional estimates of Australia’s current and capital accounts. The statistics are consistent with those published in the September quarter 2002 issue of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (cat. no. 5302.0). For related ABS products and services, see paragraphs 7-9 of the Explanatory Notes.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

Current Account

The current account deficit for 2001-02 was $21.8 billion, an increase of $3.6 billion on the deficit of $18.2 billion in 2000-01. The current account deficit as a percentage of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 2.7% in 2000-01 to 3.1% in 2001-02.

The increase in the current account deficit was the net effect of the following:

an increase of $698 million in the net goods deficit to $728 million

a turnaround of $1.8 billion in net services to a deficit of $0.8 billion

an increase of $1.1 billion in the net income deficit to $20.2 billion.

The following graph shows major aggregates of the current account

When analysed by country, Australia’s largest current account surpluses in 2001-02 were with:

Asia n.e.s. ($6.9 billion) (see Appendix 2 for countries included in this group)

Japan ($6.5 billion)

New Zealand ($5.5 billion)

Republic of Korea ($5.3 billion)

Taiwan ($1.9 billion).

The largest current account deficits in 2001-02 were with:

United States of America ($14.9 billion)

Germany ($6.1 billion)

United Kingdom ($4.7 billion)

People’s Republic of China ($3.5 billion)

Goods

Australia’s largest net goods surpluses in 2001-02 were with:

Japan ($7.3 billion)

Asia n.e.s. ($6.7 billion)

Republic of Korea ($5.0 billion)

New Zealand ($2.9 billion)

Hong Kong (SAR of China) ($2.6 billion)

Taiwan ($1.7 billion).

The largest net goods deficits in 2001-02 were with:

United States of America ($9.8 billion)

Germany ($5.5 billion)

People’s Republic of China ($3.5 billion)

Sweden ($1.4 billion)

France ($1.4 billion)

Malaysia ($1.4 billion)

Viet Nam ($1.4 billion).

Goods credits (exports)

The main countries of destination for exports of goods in 2001-02 were:

Japan ($23.0 billion or 19%)

United States of America ($12.2 billion or 10%)

Asia n.e.s. ($10.9 billion or 9%)

Republic of Korea ($9.9 billion or 8%)

People’s Republic of China ($7.9 billion or 6%)

The following graph shows the percentage contribution to total goods credits by main destination countries.

Goods debits (imports)

The main sources for imports of goods in 2001-02 were:

United States of America ($22.0 billion or 18%)

Japan ($15.7 billion or 13%)

People’s Republic of China ($11.4 billion or 9%)

Germany ($6.8 billion or 6%)

United Kingdom ($6.3 billion or 5%).

The following graph shows the percentage contribution to total goods debits by main source countries.

Services credits

The main countries to which Australia provided services in 2001-02 were:

United States of America ($4.7 billion or 15%)

United Kingdom ($3.5 billion or 11%)

Japan ($3.3 billion or 11%)

Singapore ($2.2 billion or 7%)

New Zealand ($2.1 billion or 7%).

The following graph shows the percentage contribution to total services credits by main countries.

Services debits

The main countries which provided services to Australia in 2001-02 were:

United States of America ($5.9 billion or 19%)

United Kingdom ($3.6 billion or 11%)

Singapore ($2.4 billion or 7%)

Hong Kong (SAR of China)($2.0 billion or 6%)

Japan ($1.8 billion 5%).

The following graph shows the percentage contribution to total services debits by main source countries.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about these statistics contact Tom Jebbink on Canberra (02) 6252 5540, or the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.